A leg injury slowed him down early but, with his recent play, Leafs' captain Dion Phaneuf has fans looking up to him again

Oh, I realize this country is littered with Toronto haters from coast to coast. That’s OK. We need to look past that at a hockey club that has given a city everything it could ask for during this National Hockey League season. They are right in the middle of an Eastern Conference playoff race that, just two months ago, very few predicted was even possible. (more…)

By signing goaltender Antti Niemi to a four-year contract, the San Jose Sharks have said to the rest of the NHL, “We’re serious this year.”

When the Stanley Cup Playoffs begin, there will be no substitute for Antti Niemi's Cup-winning experience

Ya, ya, I know. They’ve said it before. Often. Last year, they won the Presidents’ Trophy. They were poised to make a deep playoff run. Some of us thought they would win their first Cup. But, in the 2010 Western Conference Final, Niemi’s Chicago Blackhawks put the four-straight boots to the Sharks. Mostly because San Jose’s goaltending was lousy. Exit Evgeni Nabokov. Enter Antti Niemi. (more…)